The Dominican Republic and Cuba agreed on Wednesday to form commissions to begin the writing of a Free Trade Agreement, free of customs duties. President Leonel Fernández and the First Vice-President of the Cuban Council of State Ramón Machado Ventura discussed the relations between their countries in a bilateral meeting they characterized as cordial and fruitful.

President Leonel Fernández and the First Vice-President of the Cuban Council of State Ramón Machado Ventura discussed the relations between their countries in a bilateral meeting they characterized as cordial and fruitful.

Fernández and Machado Ventura, both accompanied by their respective Foreign Ministers, Carlos Morales Troncos and Luis Felipe Roque, talked about the challenges both governments face in the future.

President Fernández instructed Morales Troncos to re-initiate negotiations with Cuba on a Free Trade Agreement pointing out that the exchange between the two countries can increase to an estimated $100 million dollars, according to a press release from the Dominican President’s Office.

“The level of relations we have sustained is of great importance to us. We are following up on an initiative from the University of Havana to establish the Juan Bosch Chair. We are pleased with the fact that the Cuban government has agreed to allow the building in which Bosch lived in Havana to be used as part of this effort,” said the Dominican President to the Cuban delegation.

Diplomatic relations with Cuba were re-established by President Fernández during his 1996-2000 administration.

Discussing the challenges both countries face in the short and long term, President Fernández said that apart from the ongoing world crisis, the Dominican Republic has the task of definitively eliminating the constant electrical black-outs over the course of the next four years.

To fulfill this objective, specified Fernánez, his government intends to apply an integral plan in which they will limit their reliance on fossil fuels to generate electricity, implement projects involving gas, wind energy and hydro-electricity along with the application of an Energy Savings Plan which will reduce the amount of resources spent on oil purchases.

Discussing the finances involved in the planned blackouts, Fernández said his administration will incentivize private initiatives that convert fuel oil plants into natural gas sources, which is much cheaper.

He referred to an already functioning Transportation Reorganizing Plan, meant not just to organize Santo Domingo and other city’s transportation system, but to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels.

He said his government had successfully concluded the first line of the Santo Domingo Metro system, which will begin to fully function in the coming months, while already planning a second metro line, under the public-private business model.

President Fernández added that they are studying the possibility of building a metro line that would connect Santo Domingo to the city of Santiago, under the same model of involving the public and private sector.